On a beautiful fall day at Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre, the UBC men’s rugby team put on a show for the stand full of fans on Saturday afternoon, breezing past Castaway Wanderers RFC 53-7.

The Thunderbirds asserted their dominance from kick-off, destroying the Wanderers with their quick foot work throughout the match.

In just the second minute of the match, UBC team captain and fly-half Theo Sauder darted through the Wanderers defence, scoring a try after a run from half. He would score the conversion too, putting UBC up 7-0. Minutes later, they would widen the gap even further to 12-0.

The Wanderers would score their only try of the match shortly after, with fullback Mike Adibe swinging the ball outside to fly-half Robbie Povey. He would run the ball all the way to the try zone, putting the visitors on the scoreboard — a successful conversion from right-wing Justin Logan would put them behind by just five points.

The 'Birds hold off a Castaway Wanderers tackle. Patrick Gillin

From there, though, it was all UBC, as the ’Birds continuously hounded the Wanderers half, taking all the points they could get. Fraser Hurst would be the next to notch a try in the 21st minute after a strong drive down the right side of the pitch, with Sauder once again converting for those added two points.

UBC was not only showing its dominance in speed, but also in power as they continued to drive forward in the scrum — two to three metre drives weren’t uncommon that afternoon.

A penalty kick in the 42nd minute was the Wanderers last saving grace, as Logan stepped up to take and, unfortunately for the visitors, miss.

A flurry of tries and conversions in the second half for the ’Birds just widened the point gap and upped the tension in the match. The pushing and shoving late in the match was capitalized by a red card shown to Wanderers number-8 Mike Finnemore, after he threw a swift punch at UBC fullback Nick Collett out of the ruck.

UBC looks to offload the ball before getting taken down. Patrick Gillin

With that, the Thunderbirds would coast to the final whistle with a confident 53-7 lead.

Next weekend, UBC faces Meraloma RC at Connaught Park, before heading to the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship in Guelph, Ontario, from November 16 to 19.